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Portland, Dorset - The Jewel of the Jurassic Coast

Portland Port, Naval Cemetery and
a Gun Battery

Portland,
Dorset

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The above image is copyright Dorset County Council 2000 and is reproduced here with permission.

This area covers the eastern part of the old Royal Naval Dockyard - now Portland Port, The Royal Naval cemetery lying up the hill above Portland Port ('A' on the adjacent photograph), the East Weares battery - a Victorian gun emplacement now overgrown with brambles ('B') and the prison ship HMP Weare 'C'.

Memorial stones to
some of those buried in the Royal Navy Cemetery. Above,
a German pilot, above right, a sailor from HMS SIDON
which sank in Portland Harbour following a torpedo
explosion and, right, the tomb of the Canadian officer
killed in the Sidon tragedy.

Believed to be impregnable until a prisoner escaped over the fence in February 2003!

This prison was closed in 2005 only to be
reopened a few months later after the employees had been paid off and had found
other jobs. It then closed again and was sold to a Nigerian oil company in 2006.

PORTLAND'S EAST
WEARES BATTERY

At the point 'B' on the above aerial photograph is the East Weares Victorian Gun Battery.

It is reached by following the footpath beyond the cemetery until the path abruptly stops at the ex-Ministry of Defence steel fence. The battery is on the seaward side of the path.

It is now almost total overgrown with thick brambles. This gun emplacement was photographed in 1989.

Over the years I had believed that this Victorian structure had been
overwhelmed by brambles and disappeared from sight.

However, in 2004 I struggled through and discovered it
still to be visible as shown by the recent picture
above. It's a challenge to get to it however!

1989

2003

These pictures show the main storage building for the ammunition and living accommodation. Attempts to brick up the entrances have been defeated by vandals so it is now possible to go into this building but - you will need a reliable and powerful torch and no fear of the dark!

The curious stone 'seat' is actually a ventilator for the armaments storage building hidden under the brambles.

The gun emplacement seen above is somewhere in the centre of this picture. A glimpse of stonework is just visible mid-left in the picture which was taken in 2002.

Above left - A kitchen range in a bunker
deep in Portland Port's territory.

Above right - World War 2 buildings.

A commemorative stone from
1999 celebrating the 150th anniversary of the start of Portland
Breakwater.

Derelict communications equipment for the gun
emplacements.

Souvenirs left behind by
German ships which visited Portland Harbour in its days as a Naval
Training Establishment. A closer view shows the date '1987'.

Ancient slipways were
discovered when excavations were out near 'Monkey Island' within
Portland Port.

A MYSTERY SOLVED?

Somewhere in the vicinity of the East
Weares Battery and Royal Naval cemetery is this cascade of water. This
photograph was taken in 1990 and I was unable to locate this curious
feature again despite extensive searches.

However,
in 2004 I received the following three pictures taken by
Sally Norris and her husband. This is clearly "Ye
Olde Donovan's Drain" but badly overgrown.